Maternal Continuum of Care as Independent Determinants for Timely Initiation of Modern Contraceptive Methods Utilization Among Postnatal Women in Arba Minch Zuria District, Southern Ethiopia

Background: Initiation of family planning use during the postpartum period is crucial for both maternal and child health. Moreover, this period is the extension of maternal health care and its level of uptake is built up on the level of continuum of care of maternal health care utilization. Continuum of maternal health care including, antenatal care, skilled delivery and postnatal care is crucial for women’s reproductive health. Despite that, there was no data regarding with the importance of continuum of care of maternal health care on the postpartum modern contraceptive utilization. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the association of the continuum of maternal care on subsequent timely use of postpartum family planning. Methods: a community based cross sectional study was employed on 828 women. A multistage sampling technique was used to enroll the study participants. The data were collected by a semi-structured and pretested, face-toface, interviewer administered questionnaire. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS 23 software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to declare the association between dependent and independent variables. Odds ratio, its 95% confidence interval (CI) and P-value <0.05 were used to determine the significance level. Results: the prevalence of timely initiation of postpartum contraceptive methods was 16.1%. Having of postpartum care (AOR: 2.0(95%CI: 1.2, 3.2)), completion of delivery level continuum of care (AOR: 2.9(95%CI: 1.4, 6.1)), and completion of postnatal level continuum of care (AOR: 4.0(95%CI: 2.0, 7.8)) were factors of timely intuition of postpartum contraceptive methods. Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of timely initiation of postpartum contraceptive methods was low. The finding of this study implies that the need of strengthening the connection between maternal continuum of care and reproductive components of continuum of care.